RANCHO SANTA FE — The architecture of Lilian Jenette Rice was celebrated at the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club on July 13. Cultural landscape specialist Vonn Marie May gave an enthusiastic presentation to approximately 100 Ranch residents and history buffs from the San Diego area. The Rancho Santa Fe and San Diego historical societies and the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club sponsored the event.

May’s slide show presentation focused on Rice’s education — she was one of the first women to receive a degree in architecture — and her accomplishments. Rice’s design of the village is, by in large, the same as when she designed it in 1924. Rancho Santa Fe was always intended to be a special community catering to those who would nurture citrus groves and hardwood eucalyptus trees. Eighty-four years later, her vision remains intact.

The design and development of Rancho Santa Fe became Rice’s lifework. She not only designed the layout of the village, but was architect of many of the buildings as well. She also designed many of the first residences in the covenant, including the first residence, the La Flecha house, which is now home to the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society.

The median dividers that are now being placed along Paseo Delicias (heading east past La Granada) were part of Rice’s original plan. Yet 84 years later, they are just now being put into place. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned upon completion, possibly within the next month.

After May’s presentation, other Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society volunteers gave walking tours of the village, showing buildings and homes that Rice designed and reinforcing points made during presentation. The majority of those attending the presentation participated in the walking tour, which ended at the La Flecha house where refreshments were then served.